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An anti-malware software provider can’t proceed with claims alleging that a competitor
wrongly classified its software as a security threat, the U.S. District Court for
the Northern District of California ruled Nov. 7.

The case highlights the broad scope of companies that can be entitled to immunity
under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a federal statute that shields
“interactive computer service providers” from liability for blocking and screening
third-party content.

Malwarebytes moved to dismiss the claims under Section 230. The “good samaritan” provision
of Section 230, 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(2), protects internet service providers from liability
for offering tools to others for restricting access to material that the provider
considers obscene, harassing, or otherwise objectionable.

The court dismissed the entire complaint. Judge Edward J. Davila cited
Zango Inc. v. Kaspersky Lab Inc., in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held Section 230(c)(2)(B)
immunity applies to companies that provide filtering tools for computer programs it
deems to be malware. Davila said
Zango is “factually indistinguishable” from the
Enigma case.

The court rejected Enigma’s argument that Malwarebytes is only entitled to immunity
if it acted in good faith. Subsection A of the good samaritan provision has a good
faith requirement, but subsection B—the subsection applicable to Malwarebytes—doesn’t
contain such language, the court said.

Terry Budd, attorney at Budd Law PLLC and lead counsel for Enigma, told Bloomberg
Law Nov. 8 that Section 230 doesn’t protect against the anticompetitive conduct Malwarebytes
has allegedly engaged in. “We will pursue this case as far as necessary to establish
what we believe is clear law,” Budd said.

He said he looks forward to having the Ninth Circuit review the decision.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexis Kramer in Washington at
aKramer@bna.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Keith Perine at
kperine@bna.com

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